Lagatar24 Desk
Mumbai, May 22: The interim protection given to former NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede was extended till June 8 by the Bombay High Court on Monday in a case in which he is accused of seeking a Rs 25 crore payment from superstar Shah Rukh Khan in exchange for not incriminating his son Aryan in the Cordelia cruise “drug bust” case.
The High Court had ordered the CBI last Friday to refrain from using coercion against the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officer till May 22.
Wankhede’s temporary protection from any coercive action, such as arrest, was extended on Monday by a vacation bench of justices Abhay Ahuja and M M Sathaye as they heard his request to have the CBI’s FIR against him quashed.
The judge further ordered Wankhede to give an undertaking promising not to discuss the issue with the media, to appear before the CBI when required, and to refrain from tampering with evidence.
The CBI recently filed an FIR against Wankhede for allegedly demanding a Rs 25 crore bribe in exchange for not implicating Bollywood star Aryan Khan’s son in the drugs-on-cruise case.
On the basis of a complaint made by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), the investigation agency has charged Wankhede and four other individuals with criminal conspiracy, extortion threat and violations of the Prevention of Corruption Act related to bribery.
The agency claims that the NCB, Mumbai Zone, was provided with information regarding the use and possession of drugs by various people on the private cruise ship in October 2021, and that some of its officers conspired to take advantage of the situation through bribes from the alleged accused.
On October 3, 2021, the NCB detained Aryan Khan following a raid on the cruise liner Cordelia. After three weeks, the Bombay High Court granted him bail since the NCB was unable to support its allegations against him.
